Do you chat with people at the grocery store? (neighborhood, aging, person)

[imcurious]

I don't enjoy it when I buy a trashy magazine and the clerk starts flipping through it, reading it and making comments.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by imcurious

I don't enjoy it when I buy a trashy magazine and the clerk starts flipping through it, reading it and making comments.

Maybe your "location" needs to indicate whereabouts you live. I could see a Jersey chick with big hair and hoop earrings (I'm visualizing), and smacking her gum, doing this if she's about your age and is brazen enough.

[anifani821]

Here in the South, I acknowledge everyone around me and am very open to chatting. If someone doesn't chat back - oh well! I just move on.

I moved to the midwest and quickly found that folks were startled if I acted at all friendly. I realized they simply were not used to random conversation. One of my stepkids explained that random conversation in a parking lot usually meant someone was a scammer and they were either going to ask for money or hit you on the head and steal your purse, LOL. It made sense to me, since that IS the reaction I got from folks if I so much as made a random comment about the parking lot being slippery.

So I do think it is cultural and regional.

I also don't care what others think about my random conversations, chats - whatever you want to call it. I am a polite, considerate person so if someone doesn't respond - fine with me. I just go on about my day. You never know what someone else is dealing with. I just wish them well and go on my way.

[Caligula1]

I have a very close relationship with the people at my local Winn-Dixie.
Cashiers, stockers, especially the dairy and meat guys..
It's good to know the people selling you things you are going to eat..
Know quite a few of the old timer customers as well

[antiquesmountainapache]

I talk to people everywhere! I just love people and I have always lived in the south, but I can't imagine going in and out of stores and never saying anything. Over the years I have made wonderful friends, attained jobs and even had dates from people I met while shopping. I love food and like opinions on what people are buying. When I told the regular associates in the grocery I was moving they cried and hugged me.

[SCGranny]

In one of my previous lives, I was a stand-up comedienne. I married a guy who is pretty danged funny, too... I have more of a "Tigger" personality, and he has more of an "Eeyore" personality, so we not only entertain each other, but people around us. We usually get the store clerks, people in elevators, doctors and nurses, waiters and waitresses around us laughing and talking uncontrollably... even after we leave. Out here in Nebraska, people mind their own business and will respond in kind if you are in a hurry or seem tense or uncommunicative - but they do love to talk when invited or encouraged to do so. "Visiting" with agreeable customers is considered normal.

Teenagers who have trouble talking to adults just seem to gravitate to us as well; it's always been so, especially when we were raising our own. So now Teenagers come over to the house just to talk to DH and me; they have good fun and can get serious if they need to, without invoking the "me-grownup-you-child" paradigm.

[Jukesgrrl]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

Interesting choice of words. Since when did simple civility, acknowledging people, and indulging in the pleasant art of conversation become sugar coated phoniness? You're not marrying them. And if I see the same person at the grocery store day after day, week after week, I like to have a connection.

By the same token, lack of chatting is not rude or abrupt. I smile. I say hi. I might say, "It's not so busy here today," or "It's late, will they let you go home soon?" But I'm there to conduct a business transaction, not to enhance my social life. So I'm not much for the "pleasant art of conversation" when it comes to people I have a passing interaction with.

I've also been on the other side of the equation when I worked in retail. Of course I engaged in conversation when people wanted to (and they often did), but while it may have made my customer feel good, it kept me from doing tasks I was required to do. Please remember that today most people on the lower rungs of the employment ladder are doing jobs that used to belong to more than one person.

The clerk who is ringing your sale may also have stockroom or office duties they have to attend to the minute they have no customer. In fact, many stores today don't even have daily cleaning staff. Clerks may have to dust, vacuum, re-stock shelves, clean glass, and empty the trash before they are off shift. Even stores like Macy's, where the clerks are also required to reconcile their cash register and carry the till to the office every night.

[MaryleeII]

Well, you can't have mch of a conversation in convenience stores nowadays, unless you're multilingual

[AverageGuy2006]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Right on. There IS a middle ground, which is where the vast majority of such conversations lie.

For instance, if I am in a checkout line and the cashier has on an engagement ring, or she has beautiful eyes or a great smile, I'm going to make a nice comment. It's also a GENUINE comment - with no ulterior motive other than to brighten her day.

That's not sugar coated phoniness - it's called "being a nice person."

Karma, karma.

Another poster mentioned being on the other side of the counter. At one point I worked at big blue as a stocker. There was always work to do, and we didn't have time to chat extensively. If we did much more than answer a customer's question while a manager was around, they wouldn't be too happy. Of course, plenty of people have made friends or obtained a date, but you had to be sneaky about it. There were quota's and x amount of carts to go through before the end of the shift.

Things are totally different here in IL compared to what most posters regarding conversation. I don't know why, but cashiers do seem to be more friendly to me now that I am out of my 20's. But still, we don't have extensive conversations. I might chit chat a quick 20 second exchange about the weather, or if I can tell they are ready for a break.
I never talk to other customers while shopping anymore. I can't remember the last time I didn't get a strange stare from someone just from saying hi, or asking/offering info about a product. People in chicagoland aren't too friendly, more hustle and bustle here.

[jerseygal4u]

Originally Posted by TracySam

I've always lived in the suburbs around Philadelphia, first in NJ then in PA. I rarely ever chat with cashiers, and really have no interest in doing so. I mostly want to get my stuff and get out. Whenever possible, I use the self-scan lanes to avoid dealing with a cashier, but then inevitably the scan machine screws up and says repeatedly "please wait for an attendant."

In the Philly area, most grocery store cashiers are unfriendly and barely even acknowledge the presence of customers. They are either on their cell phones or texting, or complaining to the person in the next aisle how tired they are and how the girl who's supposed to take their lane is late and making their break come late.

I can't even count how many times I've had to politely yet sarcastically say "Oh, how frustrating for you! You poor thing!" or something similar. They don't even "get" that their job stresses are not the customers' problem and we should not have to hear about it. Most cashiers don't even make eye contact or say hello. I don't want a long friendly conversation, but please acknowledge my presence and be polite!

I know in places like the south, it's common for cashiers to chat away with customers and it's considered polite and friendly. But I am usually in a hurry and just want to get my stuff, pay and leave. I don't want to be rude, but I'm not in the store to make friends. I say the minimal pleasantries, and I expect them to provide the minimal pleasantries: "Hi, no thanks, I don't want to donate a dollar to xyz disease, and thanks, have a nice day yourself."

I'm in Burlington County,Nj and I was beginning to think something was wrong with me because no cashier would even say "Hello" or anything.
But then I went to the Walmart in Bristol,and most were polite.
Walmart for politeness of all places....